Friday, January 29, 2010

"Every Little Thing" is a song written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on their 1964 UK album Beatles for Sale.

Composition

McCartney wrote the song in a music room at the home of Jane Asher where he was living at the time. He had hopes it would be released as a single, but it "didn't have quite what was required," and was released on Beatles for Sale instead.

The song is somewhat unusual for Lennon/McCartney in that the lead singer, John Lennon, was not the primary composer. McCartney sings harmony, although one can hear him better in the refrain. The song's composer is not in question: McCartney claimed the song as described above, and Lennon said in an interview with Playboy that McCartney wrote it.

Recording

The released version was recorded with 4 takes at Abbey Road Studios on 29 September 1964, and then five more on 30 September. The Beatles were enjoying themselves on the second night; take six was aborted due to McCartney burping his vocals, and take seven was finished but ended in loud laughter. It is one of the few early Beatles songs to feature an instrument that did not usually appear on rock 'n roll songs: Ringo Starr plays the timpani on the track to add punctuating one-two flourishes to the refrains. This appeared for the first time on the ninth take, along with a guitar intro and piano piece.

* In 1966, the Richard Carpenter Trio, a precursor to The Carpenters, covered an instrumental version of this song. To this day, it is still unreleased * In 1969, the progressive rock band Yes covered this song on their first album, Yes. * In 1986, Lou Ann Barton did a version. * In 2003, Peter Lipa included this song and 15 other Lennon/McCartney songs on his album Beatles in Blue(s)

"Eight Days a Week" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, which was recorded by The Beatles and released on their December 1964 album Beatles for Sale.

Inspiration

According to Paul McCartney the title was inspired by a remark from a chauffeur who drove him to Lennon's house in Weybridge.

“I usually drove myself there, but the chauffeur drove me out that day and I said, 'How've you been?' – 'Oh working hard,' he said, 'working eight days a week.'”—Paul McCartney, The Beatles Anthology

Curiously, McCartney has also credited the title to Ringo Starr, who was noted for his malapropisms.

“LINDA: Ringo also said, 'Eight days a week.'PAUL: Yeah, he said it as though he were an overworked chauffeur. (in heavy accent) 'Eight days a week.' (laughter) When we heard it, we said, 'Really? Bing! Got it!'”—Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney, 1984 Playboy Interview

Recording

"Eight Days a Week" is one of the first examples of the in-studio experimentation that the band would use extensively in the future. In two recording sessions totaling nearly seven hours on October 6 devoted exclusively to this song, Lennon and McCartney tried one technique after another before settling on the eventual arrangement. Each of the first six takes of the song featured a strikingly different approach to the beginning and ending sections of the song; the eventual chiming guitar-based introduction to the song would be recorded in a different session and edited in later. The final version of the song incorporated another Beatle first and pop music rarity: The song begins with a fade in as a counterpoint to pop songs which end in a fade out. The instrumentation includes acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, bass and overdubbed handclaps. The fade in and coda both include more guitar overdubs.

Release and Acclaim

The song, along with two others from the album ("Baby's in Black" and "No Reply") was planned as a single release. In the end, it was released as a single only in the US on 15 February 1965 becoming a number-one hit. Its B-side was "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party". The single release in the US was the result of DJs playing the song from imported copies of the Beatles for Sale album as an exclusive since it was not included on the album's US counterpart Beatles '65. Later, it made a US album appearance on Beatles VI.

Although it was a huge American hit, the group didn't think highly of the song (Lennon called it "lousy"), and never performed it live. They did, however, lip-synch to it during an April appearance on Thank Your Lucky Stars.

* Alma Cogan in 1965 as a double-A sided single with "Help!" * The Supremes in 1965 * Procol Harum in 1975 on their album Procol's Ninth * Billy Preston in 1976 on his album Billy's Bag * The Runaways in 1978 on their album, And Now... The Runaways * Joan Jett in 1982 * Lorrie Morgan in 1989 on her album Leave the Light On * The Punkles did a Punk cover of this song on their first album in 1998. * The Libertines in 2003 * Carl Barat on a Solo Demo Tape Mexican Acoustic Sessions * The Worthless Peons in 2004 in the Scrubs season 3 episode, "My Best Friend's Wedding" * B.E. Taylor in 2006 on his album, Love Never Fails * Debauchery did a death metal cover on their 2007 album Back in Blood (available as a bonus track) * In 2008, Country singer, Kristy Lee Cook performed a bluegrass version of this song on American Idol (season 7) as her selection for the first Beatles-based week.

Lee Eastman, born Leopold Vail Epstein, (12 January 1910 - 30 July 1991) was a New York show business attorney, the son of Louis (b. Russia ~1887, imm. 1906) and Stella (Freyer) Epstein. His sisters were Emmaline and Rose. He married Louise Linder, heiress to the Linder Department Store fortune; they had four children, including John Eastman and Linda (Eastman) McCartney, the late wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney. Eastman became McCartney's business manager shortly before the breakup of The Beatles while his son John represented McCartney during his 1970 lawsuit to legally dissolve the Beatles. He is the maternal grandfather of potter Heather McCartney, photographer Mary McCartney Donald, fashion designer Stella McCartney Willis, and musician/sculptor James Louis McCartney.

Eastman's involvement with Apple

When the Beatles' company Apple Corps was in business trouble early in 1969, Eastman and Allen Klein were both considered to take the reins of the company, and of the band's careers. John Lennon favored Klein. Lennon said he was impressed that Klein knew Lennon's lyrics, and understood them, and that Klein was very intelligent. George Harrison and Ringo Starr chose Klein, though Lennon said in 1970 that he maneuvered Klein into Apple. McCartney wanted Eastman, but was out-voted 3-1. For a short period, Klein managed Apple and the personal careers of Lennon, Harrison, and Starr while Eastman was the corporate counsel and managed McCartney. The Klein/Eastman combination did not work, and after a contentious meeting, Eastman was out. Subsequent disagreements over decisions made by Klein and the other Beatles prompted McCartney—represented by Eastman—to sue them to dissolve the partnership, and he eventually succeeded.

Klein made some successful deals for the Beatles, and they made more money during their short tenure with Klein than they did while managed by Brian Epstein. Lennon, Harrison, and Starr eventually soured on Klein, and after a series of suits and countersuits, Klein left Apple with a multi-million dollar buyout.

Manager of McCartney

Eastman and his son successfully managed McCartney's solo career, leaving McCartney the wealthiest of the former Beatles. In 1984, McCartney cited one example of advice he received from Eastman:

“The music publishing I own is fabulous. Beautiful. I owe it all to Linda's dad Lee Eastman and her brother John. Linda's dad is a great business brain. He said originally, 'If you are going to invest, do it in something you know. If you invest in building computers or something, you can lose a fortune. Wouldn't you rather be in music? Stay in music.' I said, 'Yeah, I'd much rather do that.' So he asked me what kind of music I liked. And the first name I said was Buddy Holly. Lee got on to the man who owned Buddy Holly's stuff and bought that for me. So I was into publishing now.”

McCartney's music publishing investments have paid off. In 1984, he estimated that half his income came from recording, and half from his music publishing business.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Rusty Anderson (born January 20, 1959 in La Habra, California) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and music producer. He is best known as lead guitarist with Paul McCartney, though he has worked with an extensive list of artists in addition to his own solo career.

Early life

Rusty Anderson grew up in La Habra, California. At the age of 8, his father gave him his first electric guitar. Anderson's mother convinced him to take music lessons. However, after a few weeks he decided to stop formal lessons. Anderson soon formed a hard rock band named Eulogy, when he was only 13.

The band included Dirk Van Tatenhove, Myles Crawley, Ross Holly and Mike Jones (currently recording as Zallen), who were together in various forms for six years. Eulogy won a sizable local following, playing with bands such as The Police, Van Halen, Quiet Riot and The Motels. Eulogy also lent their talent to singer/songwiter/actress Ronee Blakley for the Wim Wenders film I Played It For You. The band's look and following changed after the departure of drummer Jimmy Volpe, who was replaced by Chuck Billings (formerly of Virgin). Eulogy earned an audition with Arista Records head Clive Davis, but the band was never signed and broke up without releasing an album.

Career

After Eulogy broke up, Anderson formed The Living Daylights, a psychedelic and progressive rock band, which put out a record on the Greenworld Label. The Living Daylights also failed to break into the big time, but a copy of their demo tape made its way to producer David Kahne, who invited Anderson to contribute some solos to an album he was producing for the Bangles' 1986 album, Different Light. Also during this time, Anderson worked for several years as a guitar teacher at the now defunct Whittier Music Company.

Anderson was briefly a member of Animal Logic, a short-lived supergroup featuring former Police drummer Stewart Copeland and Return to Forever bassist Stanley Clarke.

In 1993, Anderson was invited by songwriters Scott Cutler and Anne Preven to join a new band - Ednaswap - along with Paul Bushnel and Carla Azar. The band released four major label records on East West/Elektra Records, and penned the worldwide number 1 hit song Torn, covered by Natalie Imbruglia. Imbruglia's version of the song failed to stir up interest in the group's subsequent LP, 1998's Wonderland Park, and the band disbanded in the spring of 1999.

In 2001, Anderson, along with drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., got a call from producer David Kahne to play and sing on Sir Paul McCartney's record Driving Rain.

Anderson was then signed on as a guitarist with McCartney's road band for his world tour, which was documented on the albums Back in the U.S. and Back in the World. He also appeared on McCartney's 2005 release Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, and again joined the ex-Beatle for his subsequent road work.

Solo career

In December 2003, Rusty Anderson released his first solo album, Undressing Underwater, through his own record label, Oxide Records. The album was re-released by Surfdog Records, iTunes and Amazon in 2005. The album was recorded at Oxide Studios in Southern California, and Sunset Sound and Henson Studios. The album was self-produced by Anderson, along with David Kahne, Mudrock and Parthenon Huxley. The album featured contributions from Paul McCartney, Brian Ray, Paul Wickens, Abe Laboriel Jr. and many others.

The majority "of the recordings were done in between touring" with Paul McCartney. Anderson states that "the songs are mostly about facing one's demons and attempting to bottle them."